Wassup for the weekend in steelhead country?

Gotta be one of the primo weekends to skate a fly at dusk or dawn or both, except for the low water (which restricts effective time of day to fish). Once it starts risin' some of us will wish for low water again! I know that once those fall caddis shucks are on the shore rocks I know that summer runs will be susceptible to a well-presented fly, even in low water.

Man I'd love to be on the Upper Hoh if it's still open. I have a grudge to settle with a big wild chrome summer buck way up in the park. He ate thru my maxima tippet after reminding me what "real" fish can do on the end of a line. It was the summer run equivalent of the big Skagit fish I lost with Andre and Ed Ward one April.

Our good friend Capt.Todd Murphy (striper guide and casting instructor) is going to be out fishing the Deschutes with Nathan Keen of Avid Angler fame sometime this fall. I hope he finds the storied Columbia record returns willing to take his flies. Eric Bigler reports a very busy season, hope to hear more from him when he comes back from sagebrush canyons to tell tales of leaping steelhead.

On the flip side, we have a fellow steelhead schnauzer visiting the salty east coast scene this fall. Howzer will be hooking up with us again before his flight back from Woods Hole.

Reports I've caught from the Skeena country were a little less than promising due to high muddy water and concentration of angler's attention on certain stretches known to remain fishable. I'd still consider it a privilege to go though, speaking for myself of course.

For those who are into recreational steelheading, the Cowlitz is loaded with fish and I'll bet that a float trip from Barrier to Blue, or Blue to Massey would put a bend or two or three in the Spey rod this weekend. We found it to be quiet with hunting, salmon season open, and other things to distract the average outdoorsman - good for summer run fly guys!

If anyone has the opportunity and it's convenient, I wonder if someone could take a peek at Horseshoe pool in Palmer Kanasket State Park on the Green - preferably from the overlook at the bluff-top tree after crossing at the top of the pool... to see if the usual 200 summer fish are stacked in that hole, as usual. Although you have to find the biters, I catch lots of fish out of that pool by the following strategy - camp overnight and fish from dawn to 8am when the ranger opens the gate to the public, or else park outside the gate and ride a bike down at dawn like a couple locals do. otherwise pick an overcast day, get in early or late and look for fish sitting in the rock garden at the head of the pool or the tail of the pool. These are the biters, the ones suspended in the deep hole rarely take the fly in comparison to the ones in the rocks (but they can be had!). That was one of my hotspots although few would flyfish there for some reason (?)

The rapids below the Headworks should have a lot of spawning salmon in them right now and greaselining through the edges and tailouts has produced some very aggresive takes from summer runs hanging around. The Green has a good number of wild summer fish that may be part of the trucking effort over the Headworks, tributaries, or mainstem spawning that has been going on. People don't realize just how strong the spring native run is in the Green. Probably because they never open it. Well there are summer wild fish too.

Skipping those I can't talk about without getting blackballed... }>

I could go on and on... but the next big rain everything is going to EXPLODE!

Wish I were there, please keep the river flowing through my veins via your reports!